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McLeod pleased with Rizzo's progress

McLeod pleased with Rizzo's progress

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Anthony Rizzo

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CHICAGO -- Jason McLeod has heard buzz about prospect Anthony Rizzo before. McLeod, now the senior vice president of scouting and player development for the Cubs, heard the same hype last year when Rizzo was in the Padres' Minor League system.

"It's deja vu, Jed [Hoyer, Cubs general manager] and I have been saying," McLeod said Wednesday. "What I'm more happy about is not the numbers he's putting up, but the development we talked about. He has been working on some things mechanically and his approach and his day-to-day routine, and that's what I'm most happy about for Anthony.

"He's got a routine that's working, he's been successful, and I think because of what he went through with the anticipation of San Diego and the struggles when he got up, it's made him a better player mentally," said McLeod who was San Diego's scouting director for the last two years and who drafted Rizzo in '07 when he was in Boston. "He's much stronger coming out of that."

Cubs fans are eagerly awaiting Rizzo's arrival.

"He's in his finishing stages now," McLeod said. "It shouldn't be too long before he's up here. I think he'll be a better player for going through that last year."

Rizzo, who was batting .354 with 17 homers and 12 doubles in 48 games with Triple-A Iowa, has not played since Sunday because of soreness in his right wrist. McLeod said he expected the first baseman to be back in Iowa's lineup either Wednesday or Thursday.